Lawmaker on pepper spray probe recalls protests

San Diego’s Marty Block has witnessed, participated in and mediated demonstrations

Sacramento  San Diego Assemblyman Marty Block remembers as a teenager sitting transfixed to the television as police in riot gear violently broke up a protest outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Block says he will reflect on that watershed moment in American politics and his subsequent involvement with protests as he launches a probe into the use of pepper spray by campus police on what appeared to be passive student demonstrators at the University of California, Davis.

Block will chair the Dec. 14 Assembly Higher Education Committee hearing into the incident captured on a video that has gone viral and set off a firestorm of debate nationally.

The Democratic lawmaker has pledged a measured response that will draw on his own mix of personal and professional experiences. The protests in Chicago, just a few miles from where Block lived, got him focused on the clash between the rights of the public to protest and the responsibility of police to maintain order and protect property.

“I wanted to be there, but my parents wouldn’t let me go,” Block said in an interview. “That’s what go me interested.”

So it was a natural for Block to participate in the anti-war movement while attending Syracuse University in New York and Indiana University in Bloomington. He was never arrested, but he did see firsthand how the police response differed, from full force to a more tolerant approach.

Later, as an administrator at San Diego State University, one of Block’s roles was to meet with police and student groups to discuss ground rules when a major rally was at hand.

Block said it’s important that lawmakers explore what happened at Davis and why, especially with campus protests over budget cuts, tuition hikes and executive pay expected to continue.

“We want to look into whether there was a shortcoming that allowed this to happen,” Block said. “Was it a shortcoming in police supervision by the administration? Was it a shortcoming by line officers? By the police chief? Was it a lack of proper training?”

On possible reforms, Block said he wants to explore whether there needs to be laws limiting the use of pepper spray by campus security or if it’s just an issue of better training. He also may suggest requiring campuses to assign an administrator to act as a liaison between protest organizers and police to establish boundaries that could prevent repeats of what happened on the UC Davis campus Nov. 18.

The committee hearing is just one of several investigations underway. Gov. Jerry Brown has asked the Commission on Peace Officer Standards to look into the incident. University of California President Mark Yudof has appointed former state Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso to chair a separate task force.

A video of the incident quickly surfaced on the Internet showing Lt. John Pike dispassionately using pepper spray on sitting protesters who refused to move as police tried to clear an encampment on campus. Pike, another officer and campus police Chief Annette Spicuzza have been placed on leave.

Spicuzza had defended the use of pepper spray, claiming that students had surrounded several officers. Police, Spicuzza said after the incident, “were looking to leave but were unable to get out.” Since then, UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi has aggressively worked to mend relations with students and so far appears to have weathered a storm of demands that she resign.

Block said he has not formed an opinion on the chancellor’s future, nor will he automatically demand that the officers involved be fired. But Block’s comments are not charitable.

“The officers should be afforded full due process and the rights they didn’t afford the student demonstrators,” Block said. “If, after a full investigation, the finding is they acted with excessive force, then, yes, they should be fired.”

“When politicians have hearings of these kind it’s strictly to show support. It’s not to gain knowledge. We all know what happened. It’s just grandstanding,” Burgoon said in a telephone interview.

Burgoon said the video does not capture the entire scene. He said police clearly ordered demonstrators to leave and warned of the consequences if they didn’t comply.

The protesters, Burgoon said, were “egging on” police and “asking for this to happen.”

Burgoon, who earlier wrote a letter to The San Diego Union-Tribune defending the police, added, “they need people like me to stand up and say we support them. It’s a tough job.”

Top administrators at the University of California San Diego are not rushing to stand by the Davis police.

Through a spokesman, UCSD police declined to discuss the issue and instead referred to a Nov. 23 statement jointly authored by Chancellor Marye Anne Fox and other campus administrators following confrontations at Davis and Berkeley.

Their statement denounces the police actions and endorses probes. It reads, in part:

“We share the widely expressed outrage at the violent responses to peaceful demonstrations on our sister University of California campuses. The alarming images are a stark reminder of our need for vigilance in protecting the rights of free speech and the freedom to conduct peaceful protests. Our university must guard those rights.”

Block said he is still crafting an agenda for the Dec. 14 hearing, but plans to invite all sides.